Idea Seeds For Successful Articles and Posts

If you’re a freelancer who writes or blogs on a regular basis, then you understand that coming up with fresh new material on a regular basis can be a real challenge. The pressure to produce content can even be stressful.

One way to tackle the challenge of constantly developing new material is to learn to make use of idea seeds.

What is an idea seed? It’s simple. An idea seed is an event, experience, fact, or other piece of information that a writer or blogger can grow into a story, article, or post – either immediately, or at a later time. Like a seed for a plant or flower, an idea seed begins little and grows big.

Idea seeds are all around us, but not everyone can recognize them.

Five Common Idea Seeds For Writing Ideas

Some idea seeds are easy to find:

Responses to blog posts from other bloggers

News events

Specific issues or problems that you are facing in your day-to-day life

Instructions based on your specific knowledge or training

Questions that you would like to have answered

Five Uncommon Idea Seeds For Writing Ideas

Uncommon idea seeds are harder to find, but an article or blog post based on an uncommon idea seed can help distinguish your writing from that of the rest of the pack. Here are some uncommon sources of writing inspiration:

Inspiration from the actions of a pet. Has your pet done something funny or unusual? Perhaps you can use your pet’s actions as an illustration in an article or blog post.

Inspiration from nature. The old adage that no one wants to talk about the weather may be true, but using the weather as an article illustration makes for an interesting example that nearly everyone can relate to.

Inspiration from children. Some of the best, and most readable posts that I’ve read draw lessons from the activities of children. If you don’t have children, then you can use your own childhood memories.

Inspiration from art. Art, music, and photographs can provide a great basis for your writing. When viewing a piece of art, ask yourself “What does this remind me of?”

Inspiration from history. Even if you are not writing specifically about history, history offers many lessons that can be built into articles and blog posts.

What To Do With Idea Seeds Until You Are Ready To Use Them

While at first it might seem difficult to find idea seeds, after you have practised looking for them you may find that you have more ideas than you need. This is a great position to be in! A cache of idea seeds is the perfect solution for those times when you’re short of ideas.

Here are some simple ways to keep your idea seeds until you are ready for them:

Keep a file of idea seeds on your computer. Include links to URLs, articles you’ve started and not finished, or a sentence or two that will remind you of the idea when you need it.

Keep a notebook with you when you’re not at the computer. Some of the best ideas come when we’re not sitting behind the monitor. If you have a pad and pencil (or electronic organizer) with you, then you can jot the idea down.

Outline possible articles or blog posts. If you have time, then you can develop your idea seeds further by outlining future articles or posts. What headings will you include? What will your main points be? This is a tremendous time-saver to have when you hit a crunch period with a lot of writing to do.

A Final Tip

As you develop your idea seeds into full-fledged writing, try to come up with angles that no one has thought of before. If you write under your own name or a single pseudonym, finding unique perspectives can help you develop a distinctive personal brand.

What’s keeping you? Let’s get out there and start finding those idea seeds!

Laura

******About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 18 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts.

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